Defense Depth Chart

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

Sounds like JoeMo is leaning this way with depth chart based on the most recent practice wrap video.

This is for 4-2-5 vs 3-wide.

CB: Peters/Tyler Williams
CB: Dantzler/Rayford

Box Safety: Abrams/Landrews
Free Safety: McLaurin/Landrews

Slot Corner: Brian Cole/Smitherman

3rd string:
Korey Charles CB
CJ Morgan S

Marcus Murphy and Esaias Furdge are wild cards bc I bet they play the 4 redshirt games.

[confucius say]

Replace rayford with smitherman

Replace smitherman with landrews

Replace landrews with Guidry

[Ifyouonlyknew]

DE - Green/Rivers
DT - Simmons/Brown
DT - Thomas/Hoyett
DE - Sweat/Spencer
LB - Thompson/Washington
LB - Lewis/Gay
CB - Peters/Smitherman
CB - Dantzler/Williams
Nickel - Cole/Landrews
S - McLaurin/Rayford
S - Abram/Morgan-Walker

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

Replace rayford with smitherman

Replace smitherman with landrews

Replace landrews with Guidry

I wouldn't think Landon Guidry is healthy enough to be getting 2nd team reps

[confucius say]

I wouldn't think Landon Guidry is healthy enough to be getting 2nd team reps

Maybe not.

[Captain Falcon]

DE - Green/Rivers
DT - Simmons/Autry
DT - Thomas/Hoyett
DE - Sweat/Spencer
LB - Thompson/Washington
LB - Lewis/Gay
CB - Peters/Smitherman
CB - Dantzler/Williams
Nickel - Cole/Landrews
S - McLaurin/Rayford
S - Abram/Morgan-Walker

Pretty much spot on, except maybe swap Morgan for Stephen Adegoke (former walk-on who earned a scholarship this summer). Coaches seem to be really high on Adegoke.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Pretty much spot on, except maybe swap Morgan for Stephen Adegoke (former walk-on who earned a scholarship this summer). Coaches seem to be really high on Adegoke.

I expect Adegoke to play a lot of special teams. I don't expect him to play much if any on defense.

[tireddawg]

DE - Green/Rivers
DT - Simmons/Autry
DT - Thomas/Hoyett
DE - Sweat/Spencer
LB - Thompson/Washington
LB - Lewis/Gay
CB - Peters/Smitherman
CB - Dantzler/Williams
Nickel - Cole/Landrews
S - McLaurin/Rayford
S - Abram/Morgan-Walker

Can Rivers play his way into the starting spot or more pt than Green?

[bostondawg]

We have some studs on the DL, and that overshadows Cory Thomas. Haven't heard much about him this preseason.

[BB30]

Can Rivers play his way into the starting spot or more pt than Green?

Don't think it will really matter a lot of those guys are practically interchangeable and will all see a pile of snaps. But I would think he definitely has a shot.

[Cooterpoot]

We have some studs on the DL, and that overshadows Cory Thomas. Haven't heard much about him this preseason.

He's been behind Hoyett a good portion of camp.

[Tbonewannabe]

DE - Green/Rivers
DT - Simmons/Autry
DT - Thomas/Hoyett
DE - Sweat/Spencer
LB - Thompson/Washington
LB - Lewis/Gay
CB - Peters/Smitherman
CB - Dantzler/Williams
Nickel - Cole/Landrews
S - McLaurin/Rayford
S - Abram/Morgan-Walker

Either the light came on for Leo or Willie Gay hasn't lived up to what Coach JoMo said. In Atlanta, he pointed out Willie as someone that is going to be very special. Is there times we will run a 4-3 instead of a 4-2-5?

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

CB - Peters
CB - Dantzler
Nickel - Cole
S - McLaurin
S - Abram

Some serious talent there...we don't have a lot of quality depth, but this group will look even better thanks to our pass rush.

Hope no one on the DL gets draft-itis this year!

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Either the light came on for Leo or Willie Gay hasn't lived up to what Coach JoMo said. In Atlanta, he pointed out Willie as someone that is going to be very special. Is there times we will run a 4-3 instead of a 4-2-5?

Leo has been the best LB we've had in camp. Yes we will play 4-3 sometime but 4-2-5 will be the majority.

[Ari Gold]

Either the light came on for Leo or Willie Gay hasn't lived up to what Coach JoMo said. In Atlanta, he pointed out Willie as someone that is going to be very special. Is there times we will run a 4-3 instead of a 4-2-5?

I expect Leo to have a big year , and Willie is as advertised.

[Walkerhill]

Where would Kilby-Lane fit in? LB3?

[GreenheadDawg]

Where would Kilby-Lane fit in? LB3?

Good question. I haven’t heard much on him.

[Ari Gold]

Good question. I haven’t heard much on him.

I bet he moves into that number 2 slot behind Thompson. Just my opinion

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Where would Kilby-Lane fit in? LB3?

He's really talented but pretty behind on scheme because he wasn't here in the spring. The coaches like what Tim Washington has done in spring & fall. He's the other backup LB in the 2 deep.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

I expect Adegoke to play a lot of special teams. I don't expect him to play much if any on defense.

You might be correct on the "much" part. But I disagree on the "if any" part. Barring injury, I can't see us going through a minimum of 13 games without him getting one single snap on defense

[Captain Falcon]

You might be correct on the "much" part. But I disagree on the "if any" part. Barring injury, I can't see us going through a minimum of 13 games without him getting one single snap on defense

I think we’ll have McLaurin and Abram on the field as much as reasonably possible. But I fully expect Adegoke to get at least a few meaningful reps.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

You might be correct on the "much" part. But I disagree on the "if any" part. Barring injury, I can't see us going through a minimum of 13 games without him getting one single snap on defense

When I said if any I meant meaningful snaps. Rayford will play some. Murphy will play more as the season goes on & then Morgan-Walker will play before him IMO. So I just don't see the snaps for him to play.

[HoopsDawg]

DE - Green/Rivers
DT - Simmons/Autry
DT - Thomas/Hoyett
DE - Sweat/Spencer
LB - Thompson/Washington
LB - Lewis/Gay
CB - Peters/Smitherman
CB - Dantzler/Williams
Nickel - Cole/Landrews
S - McLaurin/Rayford
S - Abram/Morgan-Walker

This looks to be 100% right. My only questioin is Hoyett/Thomas. Some seem to think Hoyett will start.

[Pit Bull]

He's really talented but pretty behind on scheme because he wasn't here in the spring. The coaches like what Tim Washington has done in spring & fall. He's the other backup LB in the 2 deep.

Tim Washington was a 4 star LB out of Yazoo in high school. It's time for him to make a move.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

This looks to be 100% right. My only questioin is Hoyett/Thomas. Some seem to think Hoyett will start.

Yea that's the only 1 I wasn't sure about. Hoyette could easily start.

[bostondawg]

So does anyone have any insight into the Thomas v Hoyett battle? Will both play a lot? How have they looked so far?

[Ifyouonlyknew]

So does anyone have any insight into the Thomas v Hoyett battle? Will both play a lot? How have they looked so far?

It's really 1A & 1B there. I know I know

[msu15]

So does anyone have any insight into the Thomas v Hoyett battle? Will both play a lot? How have they looked so far?

Hoyett was first team last practice, but I think it really is a 1a/b situation.

[bostondawg]

It's really 1A & 1B there. I know I know


Hoyett was first team last practice, but I think it really is a 1a/b situation.

Cool, good to know. Thank you guys. In general--how have they been? Are they looking good?

[confucius say]

With the limited snaps, I hope we only play Murphy in 4 games and redshirt him. Don't waste a year.

Honestly, maybe do same thing with Spencer. He played as a true freshman in 16 and true sophomore in 17, so still has a redshirt year. Adams is more than capable of playing behind sweat in the 8 games where Spencer would sit. Would be awesome to have spencer the next two years.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

With the limited snaps, I hope we only play Murphy in 4 games and redshirt him. Don't waste a year.

Honestly, maybe do same thing with Spencer. He played as a true freshman in 16 and true sophomore in 17, so still has a redshirt year. Adams is more than capable of playing behind sweat in the 8 games where Spencer would sit. Would be awesome to have spencer the next two years.

Murphy won't be RS. He's returning kicks & will get more P/T as the year goes on.

No way Spencer RS. 1. He's not going to want to 2. He's clearly better than Adams. Why hinder your best team in years for an extra year in 2020?

[confucius say]

Murphy won't be RS. He's returning kicks & will get more P/T as the year goes on.

No way Spencer RS. 1. He's not going to want to 2. He's clearly better than Adams. Why hinder your best team in years for an extra year in 2020?

In fine with that on Murphy. He can impact games now returning kicks.

On Spencer, he won't be needed in 3 games this year. In the other 9, he will play about 15-20 snaps behind sweat, prob half of which will not be meaningful bc the game will be decided. So I'd rather have him as a starter playing 50-60 snaps a game in 2020 than a reserve playing 7-10 meaningful snaps a game in 2018.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

In fine with that on Murphy. He can impact games now returning kicks.

On Spencer, he won't be needed in 3 games this year. In the other 9, he will play about 15-20 snaps behind sweat, prob half of which will not be meaningful bc the game will be decided. So I'd rather have him as a starter playing 50-60 snaps a game in 2020 than a reserve playing 7-10 meaningful snaps a game in 2018.

You're definitely underselling Spencer. He will play a lot. If you think he'll only play 7-10 meaningful snaps a game I wonder if you've been paying close attention. He played plenty last year & was very effective. He's a very important part of this defense.

[smootness]

The 2nd string on the DL is hugely important. You don't RS anybody who's going to be on that line.

[Johnson85]

In fine with that on Murphy. He can impact games now returning kicks.

On Spencer, he won't be needed in 3 games this year. In the other 9, he will play about 15-20 snaps behind sweat, prob half of which will not be meaningful bc the game will be decided. So I'd rather have him as a starter playing 50-60 snaps a game in 2020 than a reserve playing 7-10 meaningful snaps a game in 2018.

We can probably manage without him in 9 games, but I'm not sure how good he is going to be in the other three if he doesn't get regular playing time. And while he is good and I wish we had him for an extra year, I think we're in a position recruiting wise where we don't have to treat good players as irreplaceable.

[HoopsDawg]

In fine with that on Murphy. He can impact games now returning kicks.

On Spencer, he won't be needed in 3 games this year. In the other 9, he will play about 15-20 snaps behind sweat, prob half of which will not be meaningful bc the game will be decided. So I'd rather have him as a starter playing 50-60 snaps a game in 2020 than a reserve playing 7-10 meaningful snaps a game in 2018.

You just don't redshirt a guy who has been playing 2 years and can help the team.

[confucius say]

You're definitely underselling Spencer. He will play a lot. If you think he'll only play 7-10 meaningful snaps a game I wonder if you've been paying close attention. He played plenty last year & was very effective. He's a very important part of this defense.

I'm not underselling him. I think he should be starting opposite sweat bc he is a better DE (not necessarily a better football player) than Green. That's why I would love to get an extra year from him. Especially when he will not play this year unless all-American sweat is on the bench, which will not be the case when the game is in the balance.

Go find me the list of games last year where sweat was off the field for more than 10 snaps when the outcome of the game was still in question (i.e. meaningful). I'll wait. Bc I bet it was not more than 4 games (all of which Spencer could play in and still redshirt).

And Adams had 7 more tackles, 1 less tackle for loss, and .5 sacks less than Spencer last year. He is capable of providing depth behind sweat for the 8 games we'd sit Spencer.

I'm sure he doesn't want to RS, my point is just that you would get much more bang for your buck out of him in 2020 than 2018.

[sandwolf]

.....I think we're in a position recruiting wise where we don't have to treat good players as irreplaceable.

Especially on the defensive line.

[HoopsDawg]

I'm not underselling him. I think he should be starting opposite sweat bc he is a better DE (not necessarily a better football player) than Green. That's why I would love to get an extra year from him. Especially when he will not play this year unless all-American sweat is on the bench, which will not be the case when the game is in the balance.

Go find me the list of games last year where sweat was off the field for more than 10 snaps when the outcome of the game was still in question (i.e. meaningful). I'll wait. Bc I bet it was not more than 4 games (all of which Spencer could play in and still redshirt).

And Adams had 7 more tackles, 1 less tackle for loss, and .5 sacks less than Spencer last year. He is capable of providing depth behind sweat for the 8 games we'd sit Spencer.

I'm sure he doesn't want to RS, my point is just that you would get much more bang for your buck out of him in 2020 than 2018.

meaningful snaps are any snaps taken when the game is still in doubt.

also, we are running a different front this year.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Great to hear LL had a good camp. Hope he has a great year

[somebodyshotmypaw]

You're definitely underselling Spencer. He will play a lot. If you think he'll only play 7-10 meaningful snaps a game I wonder if you've been paying close attention. He played plenty last year & was very effective. He's a very important part of this defense.

Agreed. Spencer was really good in setting the edge last year. He's a big part of what we do defensively.